Information Commissioner's Office

South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

8 August 2007, Health (NHS)

The requested information related primarily to complaints files, meetings and reports regarding the treatment and care of the complainant’s late son. Initially, the Trust released some information to the complainant under the Access to Health Records Act 1990, withheld some information citing section 42, of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (legal professional privilege), and claimed that the rest of the information either had been released to the complainant previously or could not be found. Following the intervention of the Commissioner, the Trust agreed to release all the available information to the complainant. The complainant questioned whether all the information the Trust held had been sent and provided the Commissioner with evidence that three firms of solicitors may have been holding information on behalf of the Trust. After the Trust acquired the information held by the solicitors, it released some to the complainant, but chose to withhold some under section 42. The Commissioner is satisfied that the exemption applies and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Additionally, some information is judged to belong to the solicitors, not the Trust and so is outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. However initially, the Trust breached the requirements of section 17, by not issuing an adequate refusal notice. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2007/0091 part allowed.

FOI 17: Upheld